The Care Certificate Framework - Skills for Care

1 The care Certificate Framework (Assessor) Copyright Health Education England, Skills for care and Skills for Health 1 The care Certificate Framework Assessor Document The care Certificate Framework (Assessor) Copyright Health Education England, Skills for care and Skills for Health 2 Overall goal of the care Certificate The introduction of the care Certificate will provide clear evidence to employers, patients and people who receive care and support that the health or social care support worker in front of them has been assessed against a specific set of standards and has demonstrated they have the Skills .

2 Knowledge and behaviours to ensure that they provide compassionate and high quality care and support. These standards cover the areas that are common to both these workforces and meet the legal requirement for providers of regulated activities to ensure that their staff are suitably trained. The term trained is used here as this was the term used by Camilla Cavendish. The approach used to deliver the learning required to meet the outcomes of the care Certificate Framework and ensuring that there is a record of the assessment decisions that is auditable would be determined by the individual employer.

3 The care Certificate Standards The care Certificate standards are: 1. Understand Your Role 2. Your Personal Development 3. Duty of care 4. Equality and Diversity 5. Work in a Person Centred Way 6. Communication 7. Privacy and Dignity 8. Fluids and Nutrition 9. Awareness of Mental Health, Dementia and Learning Disability 10. Safeguarding Adults 11. Safeguarding Children 12. Basic Life Support 13. Health and Safety 14. Handling Information 15. Infection Prevention and Control The care Certificate in context Each HCSW/ASCW starting in a new role within the scope of this Certificate is already expected to have learning and development/ training/ education and assessment as part of their induction.

4 This will usually take place over the first 12 weeks of employment. The care Certificate is a key component of the overall induction which an employer must provide, legally and in order to meet the essential standards set out by the care Quality Commission. The care Certificate is the start of the career journey for these staff groups and is only one element of the training and education that will make them ready to practice within their specific workplace.

5 The care Certificate does not replace employer induction specific to the workplace in which practice will take place, nor will it focus on the specific Skills and knowledge needed for a specific setting. Assessment The Assessor is the person responsible for making the decision on whether the Healthcare Support Worker or Adult Social care Worker (HCSW/ASCW) has met the Standard set out in the care Certificate . In order to be an Assessor the person must themselves be competent in the standard they are assessing.

6 For almost all assessors this will be by virtue of holding a qualification related to the role. However, this doesn t mean that in every case the same person is competent to assess every standard. For example it may be necessary to use a different assessor to assess Standard 12 Basic Life Support to any of the other Standards. The care Certificate Framework (Assessor) Copyright Health Education England, Skills for care and Skills for Health 3 Some examples are in the table below.

7 Health Professional Nurse, Occupational Therapist, Physiotherapist, Dietician Social Worker NVQ or QCF Diploma in Health and Social care at Level 2 , 3 or 5 NVQ in Health or QCF Diploma in Clinical Healthcare Support or QCF Diploma in Allied Health Professional Support or QCF Diploma in Maternity and Paediatric Support Registered Manager Award NB - The above are only examples and in no way reflect the breadth of qualifications used to confirm occupational competence in health or adult social care . Assessment can be part of the people management role or part of the responsibility they may have for assurance that staff are competent in their job role.

8 There is no requirement for assessors of the care Certificate to hold any assessor qualification; the employer must be confident that the person with this responsibility is competent to assess..We would suggest that where the assessor doesn t hold a relevant qualification that they should be familiar with and work to the standard set out in the National Occupational Standard LSILADD09 Assess learner achievement (see Appendix 1) Assessment The assessment of the care Certificate should be as rigorous as the assessment of any formal qualification.

9 The learner can t be part skilled or have some knowledge and meet the Standards. Evidence must be: Valid relevant to the standards for which competence is claimed Authentic produced by the learner Current sufficiently recent for assessors to be confident that the learner still has that same level of Skills or knowledge Reliable - genuinely representative of the learner s knowledge and Skills Sufficient meets in full all the requirements of the standards One of the most frequently raised questions in regard to work place learning is How much evidence is enough (sufficient) to meet the Standard?

10 The evidence is sufficient when the assessor is confident that the learner has met the Standard. This decision is a judgement of the individual assessor. Whilst it s not a requirement some employers may choose to introduce a system of standardisation where different assessors come together to review the evidence they have used to make a judgement and compare the quality, how much evidence was used, the type of evidence used and come to a common understanding of the what is sufficient. With national qualifications a further layer of standardisation is also in place where the External Quality Assurance will look at this across multiple providers.